MARBLEHEAD (CBS) – Hairstylist Lisa Buswell of Marblehead says she treats each one of her customers with a lot of care, so when her 82-year-old client failed to show up for her appointment, she knew something was wrong.

“She has an appointment every Thursday at 3 p.m. and she did not show up. And usually she lets me know but she didn’t let me know,” Buswell said.

WBZ NewsRadio 1030’s Carl Stevens Reports

Hairstylist Saves Marblehead Woman

Lisa called the woman’s house three times and got no answer. That’s when she immediately called the woman’s neighbor, Wilbur Bassett of Marblehead and asked him to check on her. “I pulled up right here and walked up the driveway. Looked in the window then ran around the back and the back door was open. I just said hello, hello and she said I am at the bottom of the stairs and I knew something was up right then,” Bassett said.

Turns out the woman fell from the top of the stairs and had broken her hip, leg and fractured her ribs. The woman told rescue personnel she had been stuck in that painful position for nearly 29 hours. “She was lying there in the corner up against the wall leg bent around and arm swollen and bruised. I stayed with her until firefighters arrived,” Bassett said. Fortunately thanks to the thoughtful and quick thinking of Lisa and diligent neighbor she’s recovering in the hospital.

“She looked at me and said thank you for saving my life,” Buswell said.

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Paul Burton is a general assignment reporter for WBZ-TV News. Burton joined the stations as a participant in the "CBS News Development Program" and from WLNE-TV in Providence, where he worked as a general assignment rep...